Skills Audit

Personal skills audit

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Digipak Analysis

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug Digipak

A digipak is a cardboard version of the cd casing instead of the plastic ones used in most retailers. Some companies use this to give a limited edition feel if its a new album or just to save money. Most digipaks have a content's booklet with lyrics and maybe facts of the band, also include a lot more images within the casing as its cardboard.

Images used are of the band in like a chill out place maybe outside there studio in the corridor or in the pub or something as they are in their casual clothing and having a laugh. The colour is cream with a kind of baje tint to it not like there other album covers its like they are taking a new direction. The text is pretty basic just in mormal black writing exept to Arctic Monkeys name, which is in red and a kind of graffiti style writing, the arctic monkeys name is bigger than all the rest as that is supposed to catch the eye of customers, also on the front cover the name of the band is on a cream background in this case his cream jacket to give it more emphasis and to jump out, this is a key relationship between the text and images (Anchorage).The positioning of the images in the casing are pretty stationary and straight. The cd cover is a pie with AM on to obviously be Arctic Monkeys which in my opinion is like a laugh to, to go with the whole digipak concept. I think that this digipak does symbolize the independant genre as its a laid back approach and its all about the music and not there image as shown in the front a laid back image for the front cover. This certain digipak concept says a new direction cd as its not like there other albums and could be linked to mainstream relevence for institutional context. The target audience is mainstream and specialist as i think its trying to attract there fans but also trying to catch the eye of new fans to promote there new style/approach.

Digipak Analysis 2

This is the image used on the digipack Resistance by Muse. As we can see with the image its very bright and colourful using a mixture of colours from green to red. This would draw attention from the customers and will make people look at them and maybe buy it. There are only three words on the digipack, these being: Muse, the and Resistance. The band name Muse is slightly bigger than the resistance and is placed in the top left hand side of the cover whilst The Resistance contrasts this being put in the bottom right corner. The band name is in a more significant place and people will see their name first, it promotes their band further. It represents an indie genre as its weird/quirky and the fact there is a man in the centre of it all shows he is the resistance to something unknown. ON the title Muse there is a line above and below it, this is a trademark of Muse as they always have the two lines. Muse already have a huge fanbase so this digipack is used to show the fans their new stuff and the colours will attract new fans.

Digipak Analysis 3

This is the digipak for Enter Shikari's 3-disc CD/DVD "Live From Planet Earth." The case is made from cardboard rather than plastic and the artwork has been printed directly onto the cover. This could have been done to give it a limited edition feel as it is not a studio album, but a live promo package. Another reason could be that that the band own their own record label specifically for their music and it was probably made from cardboard due to money-saving purposes.

The artwork is made of images from the DVD footage, but the images have been faded and the brightness has been increased. This is effective as it looks good and makes it much clearer to see the big bold band name that stands out against the light background. This style is also employed on the inside of the cover, the back of the cover and on the actual discs. This design of packaging is useful because it shows off the band's great live performances as well as giving the target audience a preview of what to expect from the product.

As expected, the band's name is the biggest piece of text on the cover. The text is in a font unique to the band and has now become one of their common logos, meaning that it will stand out and is easy to spot for the fans. The text below the band name is in bold and capitals, therefore it still stands out and is easy to read without taking attention from the band name.

The back cover's background has an image of the live footage, but had not got as much effect on and is still quite dark, making it hard to read the track listing that is overlapping it. If i could make one improvement on the packaging it would definitely be fading and brightening the background image more. The packaging has followed typical conventions by putting the bar code and record label(s) on the back cover.

Advert Analysis 1

This is a killers advert  portraying the new album which was released in 2009, it uses vibrant colours such as deep purples and yellows and the album cover is made up of bigger and smaller circles to give a collage effect of the dusk moon like its just setting. The only bit of the c.d. cover is the 'Day and Age' wording which is in normal font i think this is important as it stands out as it should. Then as a whole its an advert shows the recent release of the album, showing the album cover and giving hints of what is on it like at the bottom it says 'featuring the single human' to tempt in buying the c.d. as they might have heard the single track previous as it was released into the charts before the album was released, this in a whole is what adverts do, persuade the audience to buy the item which it is showing. This killers advert is quite clever as it uses different colours and shades to give the setting and the effect of the use of the circles give it character like it something thats never been done an exclusive album, to go with there image e.g brandon flowers (e.g a montage effect to go with the title day and age as it a dusk setting and the world is getting older or coming of age in a person and looking at the day/dusk in a different way).

This is the album cover as you can see the magazine advert is exactly the same as this except of the dates and saying its a brand new album. The only thing that is different is the colour of the titles, in the magazine advert 'the killers' is white and 'day and age' is black. But in the album cover this is purple and white like its a contrast between the two covers. Also to point across the album cover is a lot brighter than the magazine advert and i think this is to show that this is the real thing.

Advert Analysis 2

This is an advertisement for the arctic monkeys album suck it and see. Similar to the digipack in the way that the band name is the biggest writing on the screen followed up by the name of the upcoming album. Its a black background whilst the writing is a mixture of about 4 colours with trees silhouetted with in them. Its quirky/weird and fits in with the indie genre as these are major conventions within the genre. Its for a main stream audience who follow the already huge arctic monkeys but the quirkiness off it is bound to bring new followers to the band and its all in capitals to make it seem its jumping out to catch attention.

Advert Analysis 3

This magazine advert is very similar to the actual album cover itself, in fact, if you cut off the bottom section with text, you would be left with the actual album cover. i think this is a good way of advertising and promoting the album as it will be easily recognisable. The advert has a green(ish) background that is designed to look like an old map, as well as black text that helps the album name and artist name stand out against the light background. The band name and album name intentionally stand out as they are in a larger font than the rest of the text. I also noticed that the text was in a personal font that had been designed specifically for the album cover. the big red british lion in the centre of the advert is commonly known as the band's logo as their lyrical theme is very political and the band are very proud to be british, which comes across in the advert. The image of the lion is linked to the caption "the lions are at the door..." which is a recurring lyric in the album, giving the audience some kind of preview and showing them what to expect from the album. The advert may serve a secondar target; it may interest casual readers of the magazine, making them look up the band and potentially become a future fan.

Shot count task

Approximately 171 shots, jumping around bouncing up and down and going from person to person with the mood of the song really. The camera shots are very dramatic as its bouncing around with the band and adding more emphasis within the bands video. The video is very indie as its not a stage performance its like in a garage or a bedroom more chilled out and bouncy then a stage performance as it refers to the title, 'Lets Dance to Joy Division' so its a dance themed video.

Shot Count task 3

The shot count for this video is 94. this is quite low for a rock music video. i did notice that even though the music was fast paced throughout, the shot changes sped up and slowed down. most of the quick changes happened at the beginning of the verses; every time they shouted 'yeah' in the song, the shot changed to that beat, but in most other parts the shots were long winded and weren't changing to the beat.

Shot Count task 2

This is the music video Generator by The Holloways. There is approximately 186 shots in this music video, with the shots getting faster when the beat picks up.

Lip Sync - Teenage Dirtbag

This song that i chose for the lip sync was teenage dirt bag by Wheatus i chose this as everyone knows the song and its very easy to lip sync anyone even if you don't know it. Firstly by choosing the performers for all of the parts by expressing emotions in different ways for different parts of the song, we got the song in about 10 takes, as the first part took quite a while to get right, it uses 4 performers for the song. We then imported the clips into Final cut and imported the audio file we used for the recording so we could piece them together, with the audio of the video we enlarged the waveforms and then using the marker tool we matched the wave forms together this then made the lip syncing go with the original track which gave us a high accuracy in matching. Then the video was verged together with the audio file and then this then created the final video, then the video was tested for any errors and uploaded on you tube.

Music Video Analysis 1

This is a music video for teddy picker by the arctic monkeys which falls into the indie genre too. This video is mainly a band rehearsal getting an in-site of the time in the studio and how they record there tracks which would be on a day to day basis for them, it is like behind the scene footage of this famous band, such as seeing his lucky crocodile head. The editing cuts are fast paced at the start of the video like one every second and slowly slow down, the camera shots have loads of meat shots as they are showing the emotion of making the track and them performing/ Alex singing, as the record distribute demands it as it will sell the song. The mise en scene is very weird as they are all wearing different clothes, like Alex the singer is in a shirt and trousers, but the drummer and bassist are in casual clothes like jeans on a t-shirt, but the guitarist is in smart casual a mixture of the two. The full music video is like a first person narrative of their everyday life, such as the studio and the pub, the camera shots are shaky and use of some blur and could signify dancing and closing eyes. 


The media conventions of Teddy Picker, can be viewed through Andrew Goodwin's theories. One of them is, the relationship between music and visuals such as when they are pointing at the top 100 songs as they want to be there, this is illustrative as its illustrating the relationship between the visuals and lyrics, there is a lot of thought beats throughout this Arctic Monkeys track such as when the drummer pauses and then hits the snare and tom to start the verse. Another one of Goodwin's theories is the relationship between  the lyrics and visuals, like when Alex starts singing the next verse the camera starts focusing on his face with a meat shot, with a shaky action. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, this is true as there dress such as hair style and what they are wearing like shirt and jeans will signify the indie genre, also this video signifies the genre as it has no dance routine like in pop girl/boy band or stage performance in metal videos, but its in the studio and very common through the indie genre. The demands of the record label is present as there is a lot of close-ups of Alex singing, and the instruments being played to sell the song and image of indie. the visual style of this video is relaxed but formal as we are sitting in on there performance.

Music Video Analysis 2

This video by two door cinema club which is I can talk is within the indie rock genre.  The music is quite jerky and fast paced and can runs under the heading of amplification as it symbolizing what the music is intending to symbolize. Firstly i has fast cuts at the start of the song to symbolize the speed of the lyrics being said, also the opening sequence has a kind of film start feature as it looks like a start of a film as it says I can talk in big yellow bold letters and copyright which is typical of start of films. Throughout the music video there is flashes like when a camera takes a picture,  spinning camera shots, zooms, close ups of guitars and meat shots , fast paced jolts and movements with the camera. It has some aspects of switching between narrative and the performance as it has just the lead-singer, lip syncing the lyrics then in the chorus all of the band are singing the song while playing the instruments.

In his book Dancing in the Distraction factory, Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Firstly music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, In I Can Talk there is a certain genre such as flashes and showing them playing the song in the chorus which is typical of indie music not like metal videos showing them on stage or a dance routine for a girl/boy band. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals is shown when the lead singer walks down the stairs and says 'coats' and his coat flies off another Andrew Goodwin theories of music. Another Andrew Goodwin theory is the relationship between the music and visuals, the tone and atmosphere is fast paced with flashes, twists and shakes all the way through the song to go with the tempo of the track as its quite fast paced, and when the pace of the song speeds up in the chorus from the verses so does the editing this also shows the relationship between the music and visuals. The demands of the record label is clear as it clearly focuses on the main singer Alex Trimble, as through the verses he is the main piece and its shows him getting changed and singing into the camera with loads of meat shots and close-ups; but in the chorus it focuses on the others as well as him so i think the record label are more interested in the front man than the others. There is a inter-textual relevant prospect in the opening scene of the music video to a film as it has opening credits like a film. One of the opening credits is 'KITSUNE presents' this shows it has a reference to a film.

Music Video Analysis 3

This is the music video A-Punk by Vampire Weekend. The camera within the video stays in the same place but the band members move making the camera show different shot e.g. at the beginning its a long shot but during the snow part its a medium shot. The video however is mostly edited to make the music video appear quirky. Some of the frames have been taking out of the video to make the band members moved in a jerky motion and the final outcome has been sped up to make it fit with the music.Its all set in one room but making the screen blue and band members using their fingers as fish makes the video appear in a different place. This is similar to the snow part of the video also because the light dims and snow falls whilst the band members have scarfs and hats on.

According to Andrew Goodwins views this music video displays the characteristics of a indie band. Throughout the entire video the band are seen playing guitars and drums which is a gesture of every indie music video. Furthermore, the music video seems quirky and weird which is a theme of indie music videos quite often. Another theme that follows on from Andrew Goodwins points is that the video includes relationships between lyrics and visuals and relationships between music and visuals. An example of lyrics and visuals is when snow is mentioned and it starts snowing and an example of visuals and music is when the lead singer head bangs the screen during the sea part of the song.

Music Video Analysis 4

This is the music video for Oh Mandy by The Spinto Band, an Indie group fromAmerica. The video uses a lot of editing, every shot is a still image and slight differences to the still shots make it look as if the paper cut outs of the band are moving. The video is about Mandy and it is represented as a little village and each passing shot shows how the village is burnt down then rebuilt. Listening to the lyrics we can tell the song is actually about a girl and she is represented as a village, she's there then when the village is burnt down she's gone, in attempt to get her back they rebuild her. A number of different camera shots such as establishing shots show how the village is set out and shows the band playing on stage and a mixture of medium to medium long shots shows each of the band members separately. It sells their image as it shows who is in the band and who plays what instrument.

The video contains things often associated with indie bands, such things as the band playing instruments to the music within the video. They are mostly all together on a stage whilst they play instruments to the sound of the music. With it being indie its also very quick with quick cuts to symbolize movement of the band moving through and rebuilding the town of Mandy. The town symbolizes a girl which the song is about and how everything seems lost without her, so when the town is burnt down they have to rebuild it. This concept to relate a girl to a village is quite weird and quirky but it works and makes people think of indie music. Following Andrew Goodwin's idea's it seems that the themes in this video follow them idea's. For example, when it says "I had trouble from the onset" The tree's of the town Mandy are seen getting burned down, symbolizing the troubles they have had. Also following Andrew Goodwin, the stage part of the video shows the band playing along to the music with the vocalist lip syncing the words. This is common as well as the other points to be found in a music video in the indie genre.

Music Video Analysis 5

This music video mainly contains medium shots of the band members playing their instruments. This follows typical genre conventions of rock music videos as 50% of the shots focus on the band. There is also a relative amount of close-up/meat shots of the lead singer, again following music video conventions as the lead singer is usually the main focus and seen as the 'most important' member of the band. The featured song is the soundtrack for the movie 'Jackass 3' and therefore has an intertextual reference to the film; the other 50% of shots are clips from the movie and clips of the stars from the film singing along with the band during the chorus (which contains gang vocals, thus making a link between the music and the visuals.) another link between the visuals and the music is that the fast, upbeat punk rock sound of the song matches the Mise en scene of the music video (clips of people riding skateboards, BMX's and doing stunts.) The song is the type of music that you would listen to whilst skating and BMX-ing etc, and that is why it is perfectly suited to put the in the music video; it's the perfect genre of music for this style video. It is also likely that the fans of jackass are fans of the band, it is therefore probably not a coincidence, but a choice by the record/ film producers to use this band for the song/ video. There is a link between the lyrics and the visuals; the main line in the song is 'Memories, make me want to go back there' as it shows clips of the jackass stars looking back over making the Jackass films.

Opie task

This opie task was to get the effect that blur did on there album cover, it is like a cartoon version of themselves and 4 portrait are portrayed on the album cover, and as i have shown i have done the same. 

To do this i have used a picture of myself as a portrait then using layers in photoshop and the lasso tool i created the different parts of my face and used significant layers to get the right effect such as hair and face must be on the top as they are the top layers on the face anyways. 

Then using the paint fill tool i filled them with the same colours as my original picture, then smoothed them if needed with the smooth tool. I have used the pencil to create the mouth and the outline of the chin to add effect. To create the eyes i have also used the pencil tool with a thicker tip which can be changed by the slider at the top of the page then a smaller white dot for the pupil.

Link to Media and Film blog

Link to Media blog